Trust me not
by 52597
Summary: When Spencer Reid returns to the BAU after an undercover mission to New York, he still struggles to trust his team. Just when he begins to regret his decision to return to the BAU, he recieves a disturbing phonecall that will pull him back into the world of his undercover partner, Jessica Fitzgerald. Can Reid solve the clues and bring her back or will he be forced to ask for help.
1. Chapter 1

Fan fiction:

As spencer Reid stepped into the bullpen, he could instantly feel the eyes of his watchful colleagues focused on him. It had become a regular occurrence. Every morning he would dread his entry into the bullpen because he knew that all attention would be on him.

Ever since he had returned after his undercover mission in vegas, he had been late for work, he had been having nightmares, and he just couldn't control his emotions, especially towards his team. He would suddenly feel a flash of anger or a flood of annoyance towards them, and he knew that his hatred for them was still present. They couldn't fix it and he knew that it was getting to them, but he honestly didn't care.

He fought through the urge to turn around and run back through the glass doors, to the safety of the empty elevator behind him, and continued to make his way toward the desk that was now only a mere foot away. As he neared the desk he began to feel the desperation creeping over him. It was the desperation to bury himself in his work and not have to deal with the people around him who were each becoming more and more unbearable to be around. As he threw down his messenger bag and reached towards the files that seemed to be calling to him longingly, he felt the breath of someone tickling the back of his neck. Who the hell was standing so close behind him?

He put all thought of his precious files out his head and whipped around to glare at the person who had dared to invade his personal space. He was definitely not in the mood to be polite. As he whipped around, he pulled his face into a look that would hopefully make the nuisance realise he was not going to take any crap today. Immediately his eyes met those of one of his former closest friends. He glared into the chocolate coloured eyes of Derek Morgan, not even flinching as he realised just how close Derek was.

"What?" he questioned, the glare still plastered onto his face. He noticed Derek flinch at the iciness of his tone, but his reaction didn't portray any kind of sympathy towards his friend. What he also realised, was that his whole team was watching the whole encounter, including Penelope Garcia, who had recently walked through the glass doors. The cheerful look that she had on her face when she entered had since been wiped of her face, and replaced with a look of sadness as she watched him and Morgan.

"Nothing man I just wanted to see how you are today". He seemed to have shaken off the initial shock at Reid's tone of voice, and was smiling. Reid however could see the look in his eyes. Sadness.

"Well do you have to stand so damn close to ask if I'm okay? It's creepy Derek" With that he turned around, picked up his files and walked over to the kitchenette to grab some of his beloved coffee. He didn't want to see the looks of pain on his colleagues faces, so he kept his head down and waited until he could hear them shuffling to their desks and offices before he headed back to his own desk.

Reid didn't know why he was angry at Morgan, but he had a perfectly good reason for being angry at the rest of the team. Emily. Emily was the reason that he had come to despise the team that he had once loved so dearly. She had left. Let everyone think she was dead while Reid cried every night. JJ had helped her and so had Hotch, they couldn't even trust the rest of the team and that stung. Reid would have done anything for Emily. As for Garcia, she just let it all slide. She snapped back after Emily returned as if nothing had ever happened and he didn't know why, but it angered him. Rossi had known all along. He wasn't completely sure, but he had a suspicion and he could have shared that with him.

He just felt like he had been pushed out of the circle. Abandoned and left to fend for himself while the others kept secrets and acted as if nothing was wrong.

Reid had been lost in his daydream for a while, and he hadn't even noticed the ringing. He shook his head and quickly slid his hand into his pocket pushing the accept call button, and ignoring the concerned eyes that were peering at him.

"Reid" he murmered, which had been his chosen answer to any calls since he had returned from vegas. No hello. Not even a hi, just Reid. A female voice answered.

"Reid? Oh my god you have no idea how amazing it is to hear your voice!" she cried. Reid would have recognised that voice anywhere. "Reid I don't have long. He will be back any minute but I managed to get his phone out of his pocket before he left!".

"Jess! Whats going on!" Reid had noticed the urgency of her voice and the fear behind it and he was becoming increasingly concerned. He sat up and lowered his head to hide his face, knowing that in a room full of behavioural analysis agents, someone would figure out something was wrong. He was too late. Hotch who had emerged from his office, was subtly watching him out of the corner of his eye, and Prentiss was reading the same line over and over again. Obviously listening.

"I don't know Reid but it's not good! I don't know where I am and I'm chained to a wall and this guy… I …. I think he's really dangerous!" she was beginning to cry, he could hear the tears behind her voice. He began to zone out as the sobs from the other end of the phone began to quicken. This couldn't be happening. Jess was his undercover partner. She was the one who had gotten him the undercover job and they had been best friends for years. He just couldn't bear to think of her tied up in a cell with some maniac watching her.

"Oh god, Jess! Okay just um….. stay ….. stay calm! I'm going to find you!" he felt the tears swimming in his eyes but he couldn't let them fall. Not here where he was being watched.

"Reid please hurry! I'm .. I'm in Vegas where we were during the undercover case but that's all I can tell you…. I don't know where I am now but we didn't travel too far in the va- NO! PLEASE NO I'M SORRY! NO GET AWAY FROM ME!" She began to scream and Reid could hear the phone being thrown, scraping across the floor. She was still screaming when the phone cut out and all Reid could hear was a long beeeeeeeeeeeep. He could feel the colour drain from his face as he lifted his head and dropped his phone onto the desk. He sat there for a few seconds, replaying what he had just heard in his head. Hotch was still watching him from the runway outside his office, and a look of concern flashed across his face before he began to make his way to his agent. Prentiss, Morgan and Rossi were also approaching Reids desk while Reid continued to sit in silence, his face drained of all colour.

"Reid? Are you okay?" Hotch asked as he reached his agents desk. Suddenly, as Reid heard his boss' voice, he jumped up, snapping into action. The agents who were standing around his desk jumped at the sudden movement, shock printed all over their faces. Meanwhile, Reid was shoving his phone back into his pocket and fumbling with his messenger bag which he had picked up from the floor. He couldn't stop the tears from sliding down his cheeks as he began to run from the bullpen. Morgan, who was getting more and more concerned about his friend, hurried after him, but ran straight into the elevator doors, which had shut behind the distressed agent.

Reid closed his eyes and sank to the floor of the elevator. Tears were still spilling from his eyes as he ran his hands through his hair. "URGH!".


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

**Just a quick note, I hope that answered that question of why spencer was so different, and why he wasn't happy with his team. I know there are a lot of Fan-Fics out there about Emily's return but I have had this story idea in my head for a while and I really hope no one is too annoyed about the mention of Emily's return again. Also thank-you for the amazing reviews! I've never understood before why authors get so excited about reviews but now I really do! :D I had a sudden urge to jump up and down and start dancing XD THANKYOU! 3**

After standing in front of the closed doors of the elevator for a few seconds, Morgan turned around and returned to the bullpen with a confused glance back over his shoulder. He walked over to his team who were staring at the glass doors, quite obviously puzzled by their youngest agent's outburst.

"There is something really wrong with him" he told them, and watched as their heads nodded in unison. "Should we go after him? It doesn't feel right leaving him on his own like that" he didn't even wait for an answer, before he began to make his way to his desk to grab his keys and credentials, but was stopped by the firm voice of his superior.

"Morgan!" Morgan froze. "Reid was obviously upset and I really don't think he would want you trailing around after him asking questions. We will give him time to cool off before we try and help". The tone of Hotches voice told Morgan that even trying to protest would be a waste of time. He knew that his boss meant well but Morgan couldn't get over the feeling that something was seriously wrong. He decided to obey Hotches orders and stay, but Reid's phone would be suffering the consequences.

Reid had managed to struggle to his feet, pushing all of his anger and sadness to the back of his mind, and make his way through the building without anyone bothering him. He just wanted to get to the safety of his apartment where he could really let go and not have to worry about anyone seeing the full extent of his anger.

Before this whole Emily incident, he had always prided himself on his ability to hide all of his emotions that he wanted to keep hidden. It was a blessing for him really, but ever since she had returned, it had slipped a little. He wasn't able to keep that shield up, and he could count numerous times when his team, and even complete strangers had seen these emotions push their way through.

On the way back to his apartment, he began to drift off into a memory that he absolutely did not want to think about. He tried to block the memory out, but it would keep coming back, the details always as clear as they had been on the day. Damn his eidetic memory. After 5 minutes of attempting to cast away the dreaded memory, he gave in and let it flood his brain, hoping more than anything that the feelings of betrayal and anger that usually accompanied it would be less intense. No such luck. Of course.

_They were all gathered in the conference room, all except J.J and Hotch._

_No one thought anything of it. They were always in some sort of meeting or caught up in some intense discussion about a case, but when the doors were flung open and J.J and Hotch strode into the room, a serious expression (tinted with nerves) plastered onto each ones face, they knew something was wrong. Morgan had stopped talking to Garcia, looked at Hotch, saw the expression on his face, and turned in his seat to face him. Garcia glanced over her shoulder to see what events were unfolding behind her, and her face dropped as she saw the nervousness in J.J's eyes. She too swivelled around and looked at her boss and best friend with a questioning gaze. Rossi was already waiting patiently for them when the doors opened. Reid had a feeling that he knew something that they didn't, but he just let it go at the time. Idiot!_

_Reid had observed all of this happening, and he unfortunately remembered every excruciating detail. Once everyone was looking at Hotch, he began to speak._

_Reid only had a couple seconds to absorb the information that Hotch had just revealed, before a familiar face appeared in the door way. Emily. Who had been dead for months? Obviously not._

In the time that this memory played through his head, Reid had already managed to get to his apartment building. He just had time to think of how much that event had changed him before he would arrive in his apartment and could let go of his built up anger. Ever since she had returned, Reid had felt a burning fury towards Emily, Hotch and J.J, but even more so a feeling of betrayal. How could they have not trusted him? How could they have let him feel the way he did for months? But even more so, how could they bring her back and just expect him to bounce back and welcome her with a hug? Oh yes he had definitely changed, but he had to. If he hadn't, he would have exploded with fury in front of them instead of holding it in until he was on his own.

As he thought that, he burst into his apartment and slammed the door behind him. Safe at last! He approached the coffee table in the main room, picked up a conveniently placed glass bowl, and threw it at the wall. He could finally let his anger flow from him without gaining 'nutcase' looks from people around him.

In a way he was glad he was so angry. He always found it difficult to sleep when he was angry, which meant the same dream that occurred every night could be delayed. The incident in New york had really scared him. There was still a scar, and no one to talk about it with. Not now. He felt another burst of anger as he grabbed the edge of the coffee table and flipped it with as much force as he could gather. It felt good, but this latest burst of anger wasn't towards his team, it was towards the bastard who had taken his best friend and partner. He would find Jess, and he would make sure her kidnapper would spend the rest of his pathetic life in prison. With that, he continued his rage, throwing his fist into a nearby wall.

**Chapter two finished!**

**I'm afraid you guys will have to wait a little longer to see what happened to Reid in New york. Suspense! It's a killer! But yes I hope you enjoyed that chapter Thank-you again for reading! I will try my best to update A.S.A.P! 3 **


	3. Chapter 3

Morgan was sitting at his desk, bombarding Reid's phone with questions, when he saw J.J walk over to Prentiss' desk. He sighed as he realised what they were talking about. Whenever J.J had that expression, the serious yet sad one, everyone knew that they were about to be sent on a case.

As Morgan stood up to make his way to the conference room, J.J glanced his way. She knew she didn't have to tell him that they had a case, so she shot him a half-hearted smile and made her own way to the round table, following closely behind a slouched Emily. As Morgan entered the conference room and dropped into a chair, his mind drifted back to Reid. None of them had seen him since yesterday, when he had made his surprising swift exit. They all expected him to come in later in the day, or at least this morning, but he hadn't shown up and Morgan could tell that the team were worried. He on the other hand, was going crazy with worry. Reid was his best friend, and yes, lately his best friend had been more distant towards him, but Morgan still loved him like a brother. Even if Reid wouldn't tell them what was going on. When Reid hadn't been here this morning when Morgan entered the bullpen, he seriously thought about turning around and going to Reid's apartment. He stopped himself though. He may have been texting him non-stop, but he knew that trying to get Reid to talk to him, or anyone, face to face was a bad idea.

Hotch walked into the room, and Morgan was forced to pay attention to the images that had just appeared on the large screen. The body of a young woman around the age of 25 had been found in Texas, along with three others between the ages of 20 and 40. The bodies had been found with deep lacerations to the chest and stab wounds to the lower abdomen. The only thing women had in common was that none of them were reported missing. As J.J finished describing the case, Morgan sighed, lifted his arms behind his head and leaned back in his seat. This is gonna be a long day.

Reid was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had crawled into bed at 2 in them morning, and it was now 9. He had gotten 6 hours of sleep, not counting the hour that he had staring at the ceiling. He wanted to move. To get up and face his problems head on, but he couldn't. If he got up, he would have to pack his bag. He would have to go to the airport and book a ticket to New York, but he couldn't. New York just brought up memories that he really couldn't handle. For the past hour, he had been blocking out the memory of his latest phone call with jess, but it was no use. He couldn't block it anymore without also remembering the danger that she was in.

He closed his eyes, sighed, and threw the covers off of himself. As his feet touched the floor, he felt the broken glass, which fortunately had not pierced his skin. Images of last night popped into his head, and he remembered throwing his bedside lamp onto the floor in a final fit of rage. It was the last thing that he had broken before falling into his bed. Carefully, he pushed the china to the side with his foot, and stood up, before making his way to the kitchen. He couldn't bring himself to brush his teeth let alone take a shower, but before he was half way to the kitchen, he saw the blood that was dried onto his arms. Along with the blood, there were a couple of gashes, which were thankfully not deep enough to force him to take a trip to the E.R. There was no way he could cope with a trip to the hospital. Deciding to just wash off in the kitchen sink, he continued walking, bracing himself for the sight of his living room. He stepped through the door way, and immediately saw masses of broken plates, bowls, and the whole contents of his shelves. There were books with pages torn from them, some with covers ripped off, and even some that went from being 200 pages, to 2 pages. Just as he thought he was going to cry at the sight of his dismantled books, he spotted his credentials lying on the floor next to the overturned coffee table. He walked over and reached down to pick them up. The sight made him feel sick, and now that they were in his hands, he felt the bile rise in his throat.

Only just managing to relax and stop himself from blowing chunks over his destroyed apartment, he took another look at his ruined F.B.I identification. The leather holder that his I.D was in looked like it had been half shredded by a pair of scissors. As he opened the destroyed leather holder, he sighed and shut his eyes for the second time in the space of an hour. What was his life coming to? His I.D card was ripped in half, and splattered with blood. He had obviously taken the time to put the I.D back into the leather holder, which confused him. He didn't remember why he did it, obviously because he was in such a rage that he didn't think before he did it. How was he going to explain this to Hotch? Oh well. He had to figure out how to help jess before he went anywhere near that place. He dropped the credentials and headed off to clean his arms, and cover up the gashes before they got infected.

After cleaning himself up, he began to think. He had to find Jessica before it was too late. He had to or he would never forgive himself, and the only way to find her was to get onto a plane and go to New York. Everything inside him screamed danger, even though he knew that nothing could happen to him again. The odds were against it. He had to go. Not only because of Jessica, but because if he didn't, he would have to back to work and he really didn't want to see or even talk to his team. Besides, his credentials were ruined to he couldn't go in even if he wanted to. Cursing himself for being such a baby, he absent mindly pushed the end call button on his phone, which had been buzzing constantly for the past 2 minutes.

He made his decision, and two hours later found himself at the airport, with a flight scheduled for 11, with his suitcase and a phone full of texts from Morgan, which over the past few hours had been joined by texts from J.J, Prentiss, Garcia and even Hotch. Thankfully the world class interrogator, David Rossi, had not been plastering him with texts, and had gotten the message after Reid had hung up a call from him without even answering. Sometimes he wondered why his team were still bothering with him.

The car journey to the airport was quiet for Morgan and Hotch, until Morgan couldn't take it anymore. He pulled out his gun, which was tucked into a gun holster at his waist, and raised it quickly to his head. Hotch looked round, his eyes widening at what he saw, and began to speak. "Morgan! What do you think you're doing?" He glanced towards the road to make sure he wasn't about to crash, and when he turned back to Morgan, his face was calm and relaxed. "It's all your fault. You made Reid leave. You should have been there for him. He's probably dead. You've killed him!" All the time Hotch had been speaking, Morgan had been waiting, looking at Hotch and waiting for the right moment, but before he could take the opportunity, he heard a thud, and the glass on the front of the S.U.V smashed and cracked. Hutch stopped the car, and got out to take a look at what he had hit, with Morgan following close behind, still clutching his gun. What Morgan saw at the foot of the car, made him scream out in disbelief and grief. Covered in blood, and being pulled onto his back by Hotch, was Reid. There was a pool of blood underneath his head and his arm was bent out at an odd angle. Morgan continued to scream, but now he felt like there was something restraining him, pulling him back.

His eyes snapped open, and the first thing he saw, was Hotches face. His arms were pinned to his side, and Hotch was keeping his legs from kicking him by leaning heavily on them with one knee. His face was plastered with concern and confusion, as he looked at the man whom he was restraining. It was then that Morgan realised that he had been screaming out loud. It was just a dream. Oh thank god thank god thank god! He let out a long breath as his head dropped to his chest.

" you good?" he heard Hotch ask, and when Morgan answered with a nod, Hotch began to let go of him and settle back into the driver's seat of the S.U.V. he had pulled over onto the hard shoulder, obviously to stop a screaming Morgan from kicking him in the face. "You fell asleep" Hotch stated. He wasn't starting the car, he was just sitting there looking at Morgan, who was trying his best to disappear. When Morgan didn't explain what his dream had been about, Hotch spoke again. "Reid?" Morgan glanced towards him, trying to mask the confusion at that question. Hotch smiled gently. "You were screaming Reid's name". Morgan looked down.

"Morgan, I understand that you're worried about Reid, we all are, but he's a grown man. He can take care of himself. That being said, I do think we should find him and let him know that he always has someone to talk to, so when we get back from this case, we will talk to him." Another smile. "Besides, I think everyone of the team had tried to get in contact with him already".

"Even you?" Morgan was grinning now.

"Even me" Hotch said, with a shamed look on his face. He started the engine, and continued to the airport, where the team were probably waiting for them.

"What time do we take off?" Morgan asked, making sure his gun and credentials were with him as they stepped out of the S.U.V.

"Ten past eleven. Don't ask me why we can't just go at eleven. I don't know." Hotch replied, as they made their way towards the team, who were waiting in a group beside their vehicles, and looking their way.

"Finally!" Emily called, grinning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I am really really really sorry that it has been so long since I last posted a chapter! I wasn't in a writing mood for a long time and I shared a computer with my brother so that made it more difficult. Thankfully I have my own laptop now so I promise I will update a lot more frequently! Promise promise promise! If you're still with me, thank you so much I really appreciate your patience and I hope this story isn't too awful! **

It had been so long since Reid had waited in an airport that he had almost forgotten how horrible of an experience it was. He had only been waiting for two minutes, and already his patience was wearing thin. Once he had paid for his plane ticket, he had made his way to the waiting area and looked around. The only seat that didn't have either a person, or a bag (that for some god forsaken reason needed its own seat), was unfortunately located in between a large, hairy man in a sleeveless vest and shorts, and a small child who had decided to see how far he could shove a toy car up his nose. Reid shuffled in between people, bags, and chairs, managing to make it to the seat without stepping on or tripping over anything, and dropped his bag onto the floor next to him. Thankfully his hand luggage was only small, and had nothing of any significant value in it, so he didn't need to be too cautious. As he lowered himself into his seat, he realised just how bad the man sitting next to him smelled. How could one person smell so bad? He glanced towards the large man, seeing beads of salty sweat rolling down his forehead. His skin was shiny and red, and his hair clung to his forehead, making him look like he had just emerged from a swimming pool. Reid looked away quickly before the man noticed Reid gawking at him, and turned his attention to the little boy beside him. The boy had now removed the toy car from his nose, and had decided to see what it tasted like. Reid winced and went to turn away, but the little boy had spotted him. He pulled the toy car from his mouth, and held it up towards Reid's face, obviously willing him to take the dripping toy. Reid plastered on a small smile and politely shook his head hoping the young boy would get the message and go back to inserting the toy into various parts of his face. No such luck. For the remainder of Reid's ten minute wait, the small child had been poking prodding and talking to Reid, and by the time it was time to leave for his flight, Reid was verging on breakdown. As the announcement sounded over the loudspeaker, Reid jumped from his chair, causing the little boy to sit back in shock. Reid didn't care. He was free from the horrors of the waiting area. He picked up his bag that was on the floor by his feet, and began to make his way to the gate, praying that his seat on the plane wasn't around any young children. He was nearly at the gate when he spotted something that made his heart pound. Over by the doors that led onto the tarmac, was his team. They all looked tired and worn out, especially Morgan, who had dark circles under his eyes. Reid really didn't want to deal with them right now, and he knew that if they spotted him they would bombard him with questions, so he started walking towards the gate, keeping his eyes on the team just in case. He was a couple of feet away from the gate when Hotch whipped his head round. Reid didn't know what gave him away. Maybe Hotch just felt someone looking at him. Reid was staring right into his eyes now, fear freezing him to the spot. He had no idea why he was scared. It wasn't like he cared what Hotch or any of the team thought of him anymore. Reid watched at hotche's eyebrows shot up and then return to normal. Of course, the professional, cold Aaron Hotchner couldn't show any emotion. He couldn't let anyone see how he really felt. As this thought occurred to Reid, he felt the anger bubble up and threaten to boil over. Why can't he confide in and trust his team. This time it was Reid's turn to frown, and as he focused on Hotch again he realised that the rest of the team had noticed him now, and were making their way over, Morgan jogging and the rest of the team speed walking. Reid made sure the team could see the scowl that had taken over his face before he turned and headed towards the gate once more. He threw his ticket onto the desk outside the gate and passed through the entrance and onto the bridge leading to the airplane.

_**Hotch:**_

It was 11, and the team were waiting by the doors leading to the tarmac to board their plane. He was at the front of the group, separated from the other team members. He needed to think. He kept replaying Morgan's outburst over and over in his head. One moment he was driving along the highway, trying to be as quiet as possible because Morgan was sleeping, the next he was on the hard shoulder trying to hold down his thrashing colleague. He knew it was odd for Morgan to take naps on short car journeys, but he quickly put that out of his head, thinking that it was probably because he hadn't gotten enough sleep due to Reid's unknown whereabouts. Everyone on the team knew how much Morgan cared about Reid. They were practically brothers. The whole team was one small family. Or at least it used to be. Hotch couldn't help but feel guilty for his role in driving the genius away. In fact it was nearly all his fault, and that thought wouldn't go away until Reid returned. Hotch would never admit it to anyone, but he already missed Reid. He wanted to know what had happened to him because the worry and concern that encased him at the moment was nearly unbearable. Reid was like his son. Hotche's eyes began to tingle and itch and he knew that if he didn't do anything about it, tears would start to make an appearance. He blinked furiously, and turned his head sideways, which almost always helped get rid of any unwanted tears. As Hotch turned his head he caught sight of someone staring at him. He went to look away from the man, but realised just in time that he was staring into the eyes of a familiar face. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline as he took in the awkward stance and ratty messenger bag of his youngest agent. Quickly restoring his famous composed expression, he turned to the team, but realised that they were already looking in the direction of their team mate. Morgan began to walk quickly towards Reid before Hotch could stop him, the rest of the team following closely behind. Hotch decided to go after them, scrapping the plan to give him time and space. Hotch was worried, and he now wanted to know why his agent was getting on a plane instead of being at work. Morgan was jogging now, and didn't seem to be taken back by the fierce and angry twist to Reid's face, but Hotch hesitated. He understood how angry Reid was, but his expression was almost scary. Hotch noticed as Reid turned and hurried off towards a gate, and he quickened his pace. He threw something onto the desk and disappeared from sight. Hotch couldn't help but feel disappointed as he saw the flight attendant blocking Morgan from following Reid any further. He knew that they wouldn't get onto the plane without a ticket but he had hoped they could at least catch up with their youngest. Morgan refrained from punching a wall as he made his way back to the rest of the team, who had stopped when Reid ran through the gateway. Hotch heard him curse under his breath, and decided to push his feelings aside and switch back to leader mode. "We have to be on the jet in 10! I know that you all wanted to talk to Reid but he obviously still wants to be away from us at the moment so we will just have to leave it until the case is finished. I want you all over by the doors now!" Hotch watched again as the team passed him, tired and defeated looks on their faces. He couldn't help but feel bad for them. As his team waited at the doors, Hotch went over to the woman at the desk by the gate that Reid had just escaped through. He asked her a question, and allowed confusion to flood through him at the answer he received. When he got back to the doors, J.J was looking at him.

"What's up?" she asked. She knew his confusion was to do with Reid.

Hotch frowned. "Reid's going to new York. I just can't figure out why he would go there".

**Thank you for reading my latest chapter! Reviews are amazing and I love them, they inspire me! So keep 'em coming :D xxxx**


	5. Chapter 5

As Reid jogged down the tunnel to the entrance of the plane, he began to slowly let his anger melt away. There was no point staying angry at people who didn't matter to him anymore. Reid had finally had enough or his team constantly babying him and mocking him whenever he started spouting statistics. He couldn't help it, it was his way of communicating, and it hurt him that they didn't understand. They weren't allowed to mock him for being himself and then expect him to be okay in the long run. No. He had had enough, and now they had lost him. He wasn't going to return to the team when he found Jessica, he was going to find another job. He's a genius, it wouldnt be too hard.

Before he stepped onto the plane, he patted the outside of it for luck. He always performed this action, because it made him feel safer. He didn't know why, but he wasn't going to question his own mind. He had booked a coach ticket, and wasn't getting his hopes up on a good seat, but as he made his way down the fuselage of the plane, he spotted his place. It was a window seat, with only one seat next to it, and thankfully It looked to be un occupied. He let out a sigh of relief, finally beginning to feel slightly happier. He deposited his hand luggage into the over head storage and settled into his seat. He didn't like to fly, but over his years of working in the B.A.U he had slowly gotten used to it. He still only liked to travel when necessary, but this was an emergency. His best friend was in danger.

1 hour later

Since the little run in with his team at the airport, Reid had not received any new messages or phonecalls. They must have finally gotten the message. As the plane began to prepare to land, Reid switched off his phone. Nothing was going to distract him from Jessica, and it was highly unlikely that the unsub would be stupid enough to leave his phone in easy reach of Jessica again. Once the plane had landed and reid had made it successfully to the taxi bay, he breathed another sigh of relief. Finally, somewhere the team couldn't ambush him.

_**Hotch:**_

The flight to texas was long, but it gave Hotch time to think. He was still coming up empty on why Reid would want to go to new York, but he knew there would have to be some valid reason. He decided to bring the team in on his thoughts and wondered aloud. "why would reid want to go to new York?" his agents heads whipped around at the sound of their bosses voice, and each had a questioning look on their face, apart from J.J, who already knew about reids little new York adventure. Hotch remembered that the team were still in the dark about which flight reid had taken, so he began to explain everything he knew. " after I had sent you all over to the doors after reid left, I went over to the desk to ask which flight it was. The attendant told me that it was a new York flight" he finished glancing at each of his agents. After a few moments of silence Rossi spoke.

"It could have something to do with that phone call he had. You know when he freaked out and ran off". His eyebrows furrowed remembering the stress that was evident on the youngest agents face.

"Yeah that phone call seemed pretty urgent. Explains why he got a flight so quickly" Morgan offered.

Emily spoke. "Wait! Didn't reid go on an undercover mission a few months back? I remember Strauss saying something about new York!" She looked at hotch for confirmation.

"He did I remember now" hotch frowned. "he didn't tell me he was going. He just left. Strauss told me a couple of days later" Hotch sighed at the similarity of the situation.

The team became silent. They were all thinking the same thing. Could the case have opened back up? Is reid in danger? No one wanted to think of the consequences or Reid going on a mission without them. Suddleny, the laptop that was opened up on the table lit up.

*DING*

The team were drawn from the thoughts and began to focus all of their attention on the colourful woman on the screen. Garcia's bright smile faltered as she saw the grim faces staring back at her and she started to feel uncomfortable.

"Garcia?" hotch urged, wondering if she had any information that could help them on their case.

"uh…ermm…. Oh yeh!" Garcia stammered, feeling unusually nervous under the defeated stares of her babies. "The texas state officers have caught and arrested a young male in his twenties leaving a womans house through an open window after an alarm was triggered" she explained. "the officers found the womans body in the house and the murder weapon in the suspects bag".

"How similar was the killing to the previous homocides?"hotch questioned, his face twisted into a slight frown.

"remarkably similar sir" Garcia's rarely heard serious voice replied.

"okay I want you to contact them and tell them that we will be there soon to question the suspect. No matter how much evidence there is, this case isn't over until I say so" Hotch ordered. He was hopeful that the officers had caught the right subject. It meant that they could return home and focus on helping reid, whether he wanted their help or not.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hey guys! So this is the 6**__**th**__** chapter now and I just want to say for those of you who have kept with the story through my annoyingly long periods of time between each chapter, thank you. **_

**Reid:**

Reid's hotel was huge. It pushed him down a lot money-wise, but he figured that the team, if they decided to come looking for him, wouldn't expect him to pay so much for a hotel, and he was pulling all the stops to make sure they stayed as far away from him as possible. It took all the strength he had not to run out onto the tarmac at the airport and steal their jet. Knowing how to fly a plane didn't help fight the urge. As he entered the lobby of the huge hotel, his eyes drifted towards the ceiling. It was a very high ceiling, with a Sistine chapel style painting which reid found fascinating. He himself had never been to the Sistine chapel because he simply had no interest in travelling all the way to Italy when he had work to focus on. Now however, he was reconsidering. Maybe once he was done with this rescue mission he would take a holiday and relax. He definitely needed it.

Once he forced himself to look away from the beautiful ceiling, he realised that he was already at the front desk. He couldn't remember how long he had been standing there, and he was verging on embarrassment, so he quickly told her his name and room number. Reid had booked the room that morning, and fortunately there were available rooms. He thought that this was probably because of the expense of the rooms, so he didn't question it any more. As the young girl at the front desk handed him the key to his room, he began to think up tactics and plans. He already knew that as soon as he worked out where Jessica was, he would go on his own. He had left the remains of his badge at his destroyed apartment in D.C, so he couldn't flash the badge and demand authority like hotch would usually do. The police department would just screw up his plan and go in guns blazing. Reid wasn't usually a judgemental person, but over last last few months he had been noticing things while on cases that he hadn't before. He realized that the cops were the babies of law enforcement and in a crisis, most would make it messy by trying to act tough. It wasn't an appealing plan to go to the police, so Reid would have to do it all on his own. He wouldn't ask the team for help unless he knew that Jessica was in life threatening danger.

As soon as Reid walked through the door to his room, he walked over to his bedside table. In most of the hotels he had stayed in, there had been a map of the area, so hoping that this was one of those hotels, he pulled open the drawer. Bingo. The map was a large folded piece of paper that covered the entire bed. Perfect. Reid grabbed a marker out of his messenger bag that was still hangng from his shoulder, and placed the bag on a hook by the door. He may be in a crisis but he would still try to stay a tidy as he could. He went back over to the bed where he had unfolded the map, crossed his arms, and stared intently at the lines and green patches.

The phone call that he had with Jessica was short, but it was all he had to work with, so he would just have to make do. He thought back to the phone call and focused on any tiny details that could give any clues as to where she was hidden. He remembered that there was a slight echo when she spoke, so she was in a large room. No carpets, most likely a cement room, because he had heard the chilling smack that sounded when the unsub threw her across the room. There was a series of clicks before a bang when the unsub entered the room, which told Reid that the door had more than a couple of locks, and was heavy which explained The bang. Reid was standing there trying to pinpoint a location for hours before he had an idea. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this sooner, but once it came to him, he couldn't hold back. He removed his mobile from his pocket and dialled a number which he hadn't used in weeks. As he put the cell to his ear, he could hear the rings, one, two, three, four. After four rings, a male picked up.

"Hello Agent Webber?" His voice was music to Reids ears.

"Jack? I need help. Its about Jessica" Reid paused. " She's in trouble"

There was another pause, a long one, before webber answered. "Where are you?"

Finally. Someone who could help.

**Hotch:**

They had been in Texas for 2 hours now, and Hotch had already been interviewing the unsub for 1 of those hours. The rest of the team had looked at the evidence, been to the crime scene, and talked to the detectives involved, and had all come to the conclusion that they had the right unsub. They were just waiting for Hotch to come out of the interview whilst doing some case files. Hotch knew in the first 5 minutes of interviewing this guy that he was the unsub, but he wanted to be thorough. He didn't want to get it wrong and have to come back to more murders because of a careless mistake, so had stayed in there for an hour, asking the unsub ,mindless questions about the victims. Eventually, he had come to a conclusion that this was definitely the unsub and he couldn't do any more re-checking. Leaving the room, Hotch glanced towards the conference room. He could see his agents in there, hunching over case files, no conversation, so laughing or joking. Hotch sighed. Why couldn't everything just go back to normal.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hotch:**_

He continued to the chief officers office and once he told him that his team were done, and he could arrest the unsub, he went to get his team. They were still looking lifeless and depressed. This was enough. They had to be on the top of their game and the only way to do that was to confront Reid and get him to talk to them. He entered the conference room.

"Wheels up in 30" The team looked up at his words and each of them nodded. Hotch was sure his team still had some vacation time, so he left the conference room, pulled out his phone and dialled Strauss. Strauss confirmed the vacation time but told him that they were only allowed to use 2 weeks of it because the other team had already asked for vacation time in two weeks, and she couldn't have two teams off work.

They finished their conversation and then Hotch thanked her and flipped his phone shut. Seeing his team trailing lazily out of the conference room, he spoke up.

"Change of plans! We are going to a Hotel for tonight. First thing tomorrow we will head to New York"

Confused looks were shot in his direction, but then it dawned on them. They were going to find Reid. The confused looks evaporated, and were replaced with determined smiles. They were getting their genius back.

The hotel was just like any others that they had stayed at over their years in the FBI. It was not too shabby, but was also not over the top. It was nice. Hotch went to the desk to collect their keys after telling the woman at the desk that the FBI had already booked and payed for their rooms. He and Strauss had organised for the FBI to book the rooms before they hung up. After a long case, the whole team was exhausted, and add the stress of Reid's disappearance, they just wanted to go to bed and relax.

Hotch and the rest of the team made their way over to the elevator and piled in one by one. As soon as Morgan stepped into the metal box, a memory hit him like a ton of bricks.

_He and Reid were in an elevator while on a case. Hotch had opted to take the stairs. Suddenly the elevator jolted and came to a stop, nearly knocking himself and Reid to the ground. Morgan could swear he saw his life flash before his eyes. He started pushing the button on the front of the elevator while Reid spouted out statistics about annual elevator accidents and deaths. The whole time an alarm was going off and Morgan felt like he should take out his phone and call his family to say goodbye. He shut his eyes "No no no no no no not today!" Reid was cowering against the wall of the elevator looking like a lost puppy when the elevator jolted once more and started moving again. As soon as the elevator doors opened, both agents bolted out of the elevator straight into Hotch who was annoyingly calm considering two of his agents had been in the elevator while an alarm was blaring. "You okay?" He asked. Morgan could swear he saw a smirk on his face, although anyone who wasn't a profiler wouldn't be able to see it. _

Morgan flashed back to reality. He looked up, his eyes slightly wetter than they had been before his flashback. The whole team was staring at him. Damn it, how long had he been standing there with a blank expression. "You okay?" Hotch spoke up. Morgan flinched at those words, the exact words he had spoken on the day of his flashback.

"Uh.. Yeh… yeh I'm fine… lets go" he murmured. He turned around and pushed the button that would bring them to the fifth floor, and shut his eyes. He could feel the teams eyes still focused on him, but he didn't really care. Just being in an elevator was making him feel nostalgic and he didn't like it. The journey to the fifth floor was short and as soon as the doors opened, he exited and made his way to his room.

Hotch watched as Morgan shot out of the elevator. There was something troubling him and he was nearly certain that it was something to do with Reid. He inwardly sighed and looked at his other agents who had a look of confusion on their faces. That expression was making frequent appearances within their team recently. He told them to go and get some rest and that they would be leaving for New York at 7:00 tomorrow morning. As the team separated at the doors of their rooms, Hotch began to make his way to Morgan's room. He was just outside the door and had his and raised in a fist ready to knock, when he decided against it. After Morgan snapped out of his trance in the elevator, Hotch could swear he saw tears threatening to blow his tough demeanour, and Morgan wouldn't want anyone to see him at his weakest, especially not his boss. He dropped his arm in defeat and went to his own room. When he was safely in the privacy of his hotel room, he flopped onto the bed and lay there with his eyes shut, thinking. He was laying there for 20 minutes trying to think of what could have triggered Morgan's change of behaviour, when it finally hit him.

"Damn it! How could I be so stupid!" Hotch scolded himself. He had remembered the elevator incident. He sat up and pushed himself of the bed, mentally scolding himself for not knowing what effect this whole Reid thing would take on Morgan. They were best friends. He stood there for 10 more minutes before he resigned himself to his bed and decided that there was nothing he could do until the team arrived in New York.


	8. Chapter 8

Reid was pacing the floor of his hotel room when a knock on the door brought him out of his reverie of thought. He stood looking at the door for half a second before he took a deep shaky breath and made his way towards the door. As he wrapped his hand around the door knob, he paused once more, taking a moment to prepare himself for the force of his ex-undercover colleague. With that, he swung open the door and focused all of his attention on the man standing in front of him. The tall man with black hair. The man who had trained him. Who had prepared him for everything that being an undercover agent had to offer. Over the time that this man had been training him, they had developed a friendship that could not be broken by lack of trust, because Reid trusted him 100% and he knew that this man trusted him 100%. Ethan trusted Reid and Reid trusted Ethan.

Ethan was standing there in the doorway with a smug grin etched onto his face. The last time they had seen each other, Reid had jokingly told him that the next time they would meet would be when He and his team were coming to rescue him from a botched undercover mission. Now that they were seeing each other and it was in-fact Reid that needed help, it was a little embarrassing but Reid knew that this man was the only one that could help. Looking harder at the man standing in-front of him, it was obvious to Reid that Ethan had absolutely no idea about Jessica's kidnapping which was unfortunate for Reid. He hated being the guy to bring bad news. While undercover, Reid, Jessica and Ethan were inseperable and had developed a tight friendship along with a few others, however Reid and Jessica had always been closer than any of the others, which was probably why she contacted Reid at the first opportunity.

Ethan stepped forward and wrapped Reid in a tight hug. "Well well" he smiled. "Spencer Reid needs some help" as he stepped back, Reid could see that his smug grin had been replaced with a happy smile. "It's good to see you man! Been a long time"

"Yeh you have no idea how good it is to see you" Ethan's smile faltered for a second when he took in the note of sadness in Reid voice.

"What's up?" Reid sighed and moved out of the way, signalling that he should come in. He pointed to the sofa and Ethan sat down immediately looking up as Reid sat down opposite him. "Come on Reid you look way too serious" Ethan pointed out, his smile completely gone now.

"Yesterday" Reis paused. "Yesterday I got a phone call from Jessica. She's… uh…. I….I think she may have been kidnapped" Reid finished the sentence quickly. Like ripping off a band aid. He didn't want to look at Ethan, because he knew that Ethan was feeling exactly like he had been feeling after that horrible phone call, but he was going to have to look at him and talk to him eventually, so he decided to get it over and done with. As he flicked his head up, he caught site of Ethan jumping of his place on the sofa and beginning to pace the floor of the hotel room. He was obviously distressed and Reid thought it best to just wait for Ethan to speak first. After 5 minutes of pacing, Ethan walked over and stood in front of Reid.

"Tell me everything you know"

_**Hotch:**_

Stretching lazily, Hotch began to open his eyes. For a brief moment, he forgot about what he and his team were going to do today. It was nice, but didn't last long. He sighed deeply and began to sit up in his bed, looking around at his hotel room. Probably the last place he would feel comfortable for a while. The clock that was set on his bed side table said 5am, which meant that if Hotch didn't get up now they would be late for their flight to New York. He made his way drearily around his hotel room, picking out clothes from his suitcase which was thrown by the door, and headed to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later he emerged from the bathroom in an explosion of steam, and headed to his final destination before he went to wake up the rest of the team. He slipped on his shoes and headed to the door of his hotel room, grabbing his suitcase on the way. His agents were all conveniently placed in rooms next to each other, so all Hotch had to do was whack their doors once each whilst walking down the hall. The bang should wake them, if they're not already awake, he thought. He continued walking down the hall to the elevator, and pressed the button, but before he could step in to the elevator through the opening doors, a shout from behind him made him spin around. Bounding towards him was Morgan. He was wearing his usual casual tee and a pair of back denim's, his boots thumping on the floor as he jogged. Before entering the elevator, he hesitated long enough for Hotch to notice, but quickly regained his composure and stepped into the metal box.

The doors closed, and after a brief moment of silence, Hotch turned to Morgan.

"We need to talk" his face was hard and serious, but inside he was feeling more sympathetic towards Morgan than he wanted to let on. Morgan was looking at him, a knowing look plastered onto his face.

"Look Hotch, yesterday in the elevator" Morgan sounded pleading. "It won't happen again. It was just a memory you know it just hit me harder than I expected it to. My head is in this so don't send me home. Please." Hotch was a little taken aback. It was like Morgan had read his mind. Maybe he wasn't as good at keeping his feelings hidden as he thought he was. A few more seconds passed before he spoke.

"Are you sure you can keep yourself together? We're doing this for Reid Morgan and if you're not going to be able to hold back your feelings a bit then you should seriously consider letting the rest of us do this" Morgan was standing taller now, mouth open waiting for Hotch to finish his little lecture.

"I can do this! Just give me one chance." Hotch sighed and turned back to face the now opening doors of the elevator.

"One chance. The first sign of trouble and I'm sending you home." As Hotch walked out of the elevator and down the corridor towards the breakfast room, he couldn't help but smile. He liked how close of a family his team were. They all wanted to help Reid, and honestly he was hoping that Morgan could keep it together. Seeing the look on Morgan's face if he had to send him home wouldn't be pleasant for anyone.

Hotch and Morgan only had to wait for ten minutes before the rest of the team came trailing into the room, their go bags slung over their shoulders and determined looks on each one of their faces. There was no conversation whilst they ate their breakfast. They were all thinking about the same thing. Reid. Where would he be? They knew he was in New York, but New York was a big city. This would be like finding a needle in a hay-stack, if they didn't have their own secret weapon. Penelope Garcia

As soon as breakfast was finished, they began to make their way towards the private jet, which Strauss had allowed them to use for a couple more days to get to New York. The journey to the airport was also lacking conversation, but no one had a problem with that. They were all still lost in their thoughts, Morgan more so than the others. He was thinking of the phone-call that had sent Reid into such a panic. It must have been some phone-call to get him that panicked, Morgan hadn't seen him that worked up for the entire time that they had known each-other, and that was a long time. It was only then that he realised how much he missed Reid. He needed to find him or he was going to completely break down. He couldn't let that happen, especially after the talk that Hotch had given him that morning in the elevator. If he did anything to get himself kicked off the case and they didn't find Reid, Morgan would never forgive himself.

The jet was waiting on the runway, ready to take off as they all piled out of the S.U.V's and on to the tarmac. The jet was a nice place for all of them. It was a place to relax after a hard case. A place to play cards and joke around, but today the jet was merely a vehicle that was taking them to somewhere that they needed to be. Taking them to someone they needed to see. As they loaded themselves onto the jet, lugging their bags up with them, Morgan's phone rang. He hurried in through the doorway of the jet to throw his bags into the overhead compartment, before removing his phone from his pocket with one swift moment and pressing the accept call button.

"Morgan" he answered. He stood there with his phone to his ear, listening intently to the person on the other end before his face went hard. The team were watching him, all of them noticing his change in facial expression. They all crowded round him while he continued to listen.

_Phone call:_

"_Hello Derek Morgan? This is Las Vegas Spring Valley hospital. You are listed as Dr. Spencer Reid's emergency contact? I'm sorry to inform you that Dr. Reid has been shot. You should get down here as soon as possible."_


	9. Chapter 9

The remains of Morgan's phone were strewn across the far side of the plane, shattered by the forceful throw that Morgan had issued once hanging up. As the phone hit the wall, the rest of the team jumped back in shock, wondering what the phone call could have been about. Frankly they were all getting sick of these damn phone calls. Hotch was the first to recover from the surprise, standing back up straight from his position leaning against one of the plush seats of the jet. He grabbed Morgan, whose back was facing them, his hands on his head and an obvious look of distress on his face.

"Morgan clam down. What's happened?" Hotch put on a hard exterior, but the whole team could detect a hint of concern sticking through. A hint only a family could sense. Morgan removed his hands from his head and placed them on his hips, spinning around and taking a deep breath. He had managed to control his facial expressions, once more remembering his conversation with Hotch that very morning. God was it only this morning. His face may have been calm and controlled, but his thoughts were rolling around in his head like a handful of marbles. He tried to think of a way to tell the team but there was no way he could tell them without them finding a way to blame it on themselves. How did this get so messy so fast?

By this time Morgan realised he had been standing there not saying anything for at least 30 seconds. He looked up and immediately saw J.J's dewy blue eyes. Rossi's face wrinkled almost in a knowing manner. Hotches hard mask. Emily's lips pressed together into a hard line. He hated giving bad news. Especially to his team.

He was taking too long. Every second that he spent standing there thinking of a way to break the news, was a few seconds taken away from getting to Reid, in what could possibly be his last moments. Their last moments together as a family, no matter how broken of a family it was.

No he couldn't think like that. Reid was going to live.

"Reid's been shot" Morgan managed to blurt it out. He did it fast, hoping that the ache in his chest wouldn't be as piercing as it was moments earlier when he received the news. The team were staring at him blankly. The last thing Morgan saw before all hell broke loose was a tear roll down J.J's face. Suddenly Hotch was jogging to the cock pit to tell the pilots to make the journey as fast as possible, J.J collapsed onto the sofa with her head in her hands whispering that it was all her fault. Emily had a hand on her back rubbing circles and trying to calm her down. Rossi was dialling a number on his phone. Morgan didn't know who he was calling. But the expression on his face told the whole story. He was blaming himself, along with the rest of the team. Great.

**Reid:**

*2 hours earlier*

Reid was standing in front of Ethan who was sitting with his hands clenched in front of his mouth. He didn't know what to do. He had just finished telling Ethan everything, and wanted to get on with searching for Jessica, but he could tell by the way Ethan had taken the news of Jessica's abduction that they weren't getting anywhere anytime soon. A few moments passed of Reid staring at Ethan while Ethan stared at the floor, before Ethan sighed and dropped his hands onto his knees. He looked up at Reid and got to his feet.

"We need to find her. Quickly. From what you've told me about the phone call, he is keeping her in an empty concrete room." Reid was surprised at how much Ethan could gather about the location of jess just by Reid's description. Reid had figured that out a while ago, but it took him at least 20 minutes. It only took Ethan 10. Ethan was pacing around the apartment now, waiting for Reid's reaction to his statement. Glancing at Ethan, Reid folded his arms across his chest and walked over to the window.

"I know, but there are a lot of people and building with basements in Vegas. It's not much of a breakthrough." He felt dis heartened and lonely. The most surprising thing though, was that he found himself missing his team. If they were with him he would feel more comfortable, safe and overall at home. He wanted things to go back to the way they were. He wanted his family back. The only thing stopping him from calling them was his damned memory. He could remember every emotion, every feeling of betrayal sadness and anger that he had experience on Emily's return. It was like a barrier that he would run into whenever he thought of them, and it always succeeded in pulling him away from them more. Even now, his feelings of disgust towards them were stronger than ever. He sighed and turned around to face Ethan who had been talking to him for the last 5 minutes. "Sorry what?" he asked, and even before the two words were out, he could see the look of fury on Ethan's face.

"Our partner is missing! I am trying to find her and you won't even listen to me! DON'T YOU WANT TO FIND HER?" Reid knew that Ethan's anger was speaking. He knew that he was over reacting because of the concern and anger that Reid also felt, but he couldn't help himself.

"I know that she's missing, I do, but I don't know what to do! You shouting at me isn't helping either so maybe you should just stop taking out your anger on me, AND GO AND LOOK AT THE DAMN MAP!" Immediately after his little explosion, Reid felt a whole lot better, but by the looks of it Ethan didn't. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but before he could embark on another round of screaming smack down, a huge bang echoed through the air. Reid heard the shatter and felt the shards of glass slice into his skin as the window behind him shattered, exploding as an object flew through it. Then an agonizing pain began to course down his torso and down his legs. He was struggling to keep up, and it was a few seconds before he realised that he had been shot. His legs gave away and he dropped to his knees, looking the whole time at Ethan, who had jumped away from the flying glass and took cover under the nearby table. Ethan was now looking at Reid, who had fallen flat onto his stomach as the sticky red blood poured worryingly fast out of his injured body. Ethan waited a few moments before crawling cautiously out from under the table. Whoever shot Reid wouldn't hesitate in killing him, and he couldn't take that risk, not if he wanted to save Jessica. Jessica. He couldn't let Jessica die. He made his decision fast, and with little thought. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialled 911 and waited for the number to pick up.

"Hello? I need an ambulance at the Spring Valley hotel, room 114. I heard a gunshot. Come quickly." With that he hung up, not waiting for the woman's response, and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He crawled over to Reid and pushed him onto his side, hoping it would slow the bleeding a bit. As he twisted him, Reid whimpered in pain and Ethan caught his eye. They made eye contact briefly, and Ethan could feel Reid's eyes pleading with him. He couldn't take it, not with what he was about to do. He looked away, whispered his apologies, and stood, wiping the blood off of his hands onto his jeans. With one last glance, he rolled up the map on the bed and left. Left Reid lying there. All alone and bleeding out. He could only hope that the paramedics would get to him in time, because he had to think of Jessica. Jessica, who needed him, and who was waiting for him. She had been alone for hours, and his basement was cold.


	10. Chapter 10

**Reid:**

Reid lay there on the floor of his hotel room, staring straight ahead of him. It was unbelievable the amount of pain he felt whenever he moved even the tiniest bit, so he was trying to stay as still as possible.

He only had to endure a few seconds of agonising pain before his vision started to blur and his head become foggy. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Ethan, kneeling in front of him. Reid caught his eye.

He knew that Ethan wasn't planning on sticking around by the look in his eye, but he tried pleading with him anyway. No words would come from his mouth, so all he could do was focus all of his feelings in his eyes.

The act seemed to go unnoticed, because Ethan looked away and stood up, wiping his hands on his legs.

Reid's mind went completely blank as he began to slowly fall into unconsciousness. He wasn't awake when the paramedics came, but he knew before he even passed out that the shot was bad. It had hit him on the left side of his torso, quite high up which meant that it could have hit any of the major arteries.

He also took in the massive amount of blood that was pooling underneath his body, and began to wish that he had spoken to his mother recently. He was going to die and he hadn't even said goodbye or that he loves her.

With that, he resigned to the darkness and slipped completely into a deep state of unconscious.

The blackness that overwhelmed Reid was almost relaxing. It was nice to feel so at ease and comfortable for once. The stress that enveloped Reid almost every day, especially over the past couple of weeks, was getting too much to bear and the break that Reid needed had finally come.

It was like he was lying on his back in a calm sea, just effortlessly floating there without a care and letting his mind let go of all the information that plagued it, but almost immediately after the calmness had spread over him, a tidal wave of agony and discomfort pushed him into reality.

He began to remember the pain that was coursing through his body, the bullet that was lodged somewhere in his torso and the realisation that the person that he thought he could trust with his life had left him on the floor of his hotel room in a pool of blood.

Dying.

It was more than Reid wanted to take.

He blacked out again, welcoming the darkness once more and hoping that he would end up floating in his sea of calmness. But no such luck. This time he was just stuck In the blackness, curled into a ball with the agony still battling with his vocal chords.

He couldn't scream or call out, it was a sign of weakness and Reid had to be strong. He had to be strong for Jessica! But wait. No what if he was dead! Is this death? He didn't want to believe it, he needed to fight back. He needed to get out of the darkness, he needed to save Jess but no matter how hard he fought to wake up, the darkness just kept pulling him back, tightening its grip with every effort that Reid made. This was a nightmare.

**The team:**

As soon as the plane landed, the team was off it like a shot and into the cars that Hotch had rented to bring them to the hospital. Like the journey to the airport, none of them said a word.

They were once again deep in their thoughts. Reid was really messing up their heads, but they loved him, each in a different way but they all loved him equally. The two cars that contained the F.B.I agents sped away from the airport as fast as they could on orders from Hotch, but the whole team had the nagging suspicion that even at the speed they were going, they weren't going to make it to their beloved genius on time.

The journey seemed to drag on forever, and Morgan couldn't take it.

"Excuse me? How far away is the hospital from here?" Morgan asked the driver a little impatiently, wanting the answer to be a good one. Maybe 'a couple of minutes away' or 'were here!'.

"Just around this corner Lad" the driver replied cheerfully, receiving a sigh of relief from morgan in return.

The car trundled on, reaching the hospital in a matter of seconds and sending an anxious Morgan flying out on to the street in-front of the hospital. He jogged through the crowds of people into the lobby of the hospital, followed closely by the team, and stopped at the front desk.

"Reid! Spencer Reid we need to know if he's okay! Please!" Morgan frantically spat out, partly dreading the woman opening her mouth. He wouldn't be able to take it if the woman told him that his best friend was dead.

He could feel the team behind him and he knew that they were just as nervous as he was, he wasn't alone in his anger and fear, but somehow this just made him feel worse. He hated that his family was in so much pain.

The woman at the front desk had briefly glanced up at Morgan before returning her gaze to her screen and typing at a pace that was soon going to make Morgan go crazy.

With a quick swipe of his hand to his belt, he whipped out his credentials and shoved them into her line of vision.

"I would really appreciate it if you could speed it up" he knew that was rude, and obviously Hotch thought the same as he felt Hotch grab his shoulder, but he didn't really care. He needed to know.

The receptionist's eyes widened when she saw the F.B.I badge, and ducking her head down so that it was within a couple of centimetres to the keyboard, she began to type at a more reasonable speed. A few seconds passed before she hesitantly looked up at the group of F.B.I agents.

"I'm very sorry" she whispered.


	11. Chapter 11

**The team:**

"What do you mean?" Morgan was getting impatient now. Nobody was giving him a straight answer. "Where's Reid?"

Hotch was no longer trying to control his agent, but was now leaning on the front desk next to his agent with his eyebrows creased into a frown. His lips were set in a straight line as he listened to the receptionist talk.

"Again I'm very sorry!" she cried. She must have been new at the job because her face looked terrified. You didn't have to be a profiler to see that this young woman was going to burst into tears any minute now if help didn't come soon. "A doctor should be here any minute to answer any questions that you may have." Her voice was shaking. Morgan was surprised to find that it was irritating him to a point where he wanted to punch something. He wasn't like this. What had Reid done to him?

Hotch was looking down the corridor, watching the man in dark blue scrubs walking towards them. He was sure the doctor was coming to give them some news on Reid, so he stood up straight and took a step forward to greet the doctor who had just stopped in front of Morgan.

"Spencer Reid?" He asked the team. The whole team, now coming out of their frequently occurring thoughts of their fallen agent, gathered around Hotch and Morgan to hear what was happening. The doctor took in the agents standing around him and continued.

"I'm very sorry for the mix up. Mr Reid-" he didn't get to finish before an interruption came from the group of agents.

"Doctor Reid" Emily pointed out. "It's doctor Reid."

"Right…. Well….. _Doctor_ Reid, has been taken to another hospital in the Las Vegas area. We were unable to perform his surgery in this hospital due to overcrowding so he was taken to Parkway urgent care. Someone should have called you as soon as it was clear he was being transported to another hospital and we will be looking into this." He had a sympathetic look on his face which just pissed Morgan off even more. He clenched his fists and stormed out of the hospital to call a cab.

After Hotch informed the doctor that if his agent died and they weren't there, he was going to 'sue their asses off' he and the rest of the team hurried of to the waiting cabs.

**Reid:**

Reid was just getting used to the fact that he wasn't going to escape the darkness that was surrounding him, when a bright light flashed in his vision.

It stung his eyes, forcing him to open them and raise his hand to cover the blinding light, but as soon as he tried to lift his arm, a pain shot through his shoulder and chest, making him whimper in pain.

The pain continued when Reid stopped moving and was getting overwhelming when he heard something quiet and distant. Voices.

He tried to block out the searing pain to concentrate on what the voices were saying, but it wasn't easy. The pain caused a loud ringing in his ears and made him whimper again in agony.

The voices began to get louder. What were they saying. He felt a hand touching his arm, sticking something into it which caused more pain. More pain. He didn't think it was possible.

Reid tried to open his eyes again, this time succeeding. He squinted up at the man in a white coat who was standing above him, putting an i.v into his arm. He must have pulled it out when he lifted his arm. The doctor looked at Reid and smiled, saying something that Reid could still not work out. He closed his eyes again, suddenly feeling the tiredness hit him, and drifted off into a sleep. He knew it was rude to sleep while the doctor was talking to him, but he didn't care. He was tired.

**The team:**

The team had been sitting in the hospital waiting room for an hour now. They had gone to the desk when they came in and confirmed that Reid was actually in this hospital. They were told to wait for the doctor to come out and talk to them. He must be in surgery.

A half hour later a doctor came striding towards them. He held out his hand to Rossi who had stood at the sight of the doctor and took a few steps forward.

"Spencer Reid?" he asked. The team were crowded around him looking hopeful and expectant. "We were able to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding. He won't be able to move for a few days but apart from that he was extremely lucky. He's going to be fine." With that he smiled and looked around at the agents who has simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. Hotch was the first to speak.

"Can we see him?" His voice was hopeful.

The doctor slid his hands into his pockets and shook his head gently. " I'm sorry but he needs his rest. He's had a long day." Hotch nodded and thanked him. Turning around to face the team, Hotch prepared himself for a long wait.


End file.
